The water level in India’s 155 major storages dropped a tad this week, though it remained at 87 per cent of the live storage capacity, data from the Central Water Commission (CWC) showed.
The storage in the southern region dropped by two percentage points but increased in the western and eastern regions. It remained unchanged in central and northern regions, CWC’s weekly bulletin on live storage status of the major reservoirs showed.
Though the level of the major reservoirs was 87 per cent of the 180.852 BCM capacity at 156.639 BCM, it was lower than 157.159 BCM a week ago. While 40 of the reservoirs are full, 13 are filled less than 50 per cent, one more than last week.
Monsoon begins withdrawing
One of the key reasons for the slight drop in storage is the withdrawal of the south-west monsoon. So far, the monsoon is six per cent excess with Central India receiving 17 per cent excess rainfall and South India 16 per cent surplus precipitation.
The Indian Meteorological Department on Thursday said the monsoon has paused its withdrawal. It forecast rain in north-west and east India for a few days. This could help increase the storage a little more.
The storage in Punjab(-65 per cent) and Himachal (-22 per cent) continues to be lower than normal with the level in northern reservoirs remaining unchanged at 68 per cent of the 19.836 BCM capacity at 13.516 BCM.
In the eastern region’s 25 reservoirs, the level increased to 85 per cent of the 20.798 BCM capacity at 17.591 BCM. Still, the storage in Bihar was 25 per cent below normal and 13 per lower than usual in Nagaland.
Augurs well for rabi
In the western region, the storage in the 50 reservoirs was 95 per cent or 35.435 BCM of the 37.357 BCM capacity. While the lone reservoir in Goa is full, the storage in Maharashtra and Gujarat was 15 per cent and 27 per cent above normal, respectively.
The level in the Central region’s 26 reservoirs was 91 per cent of the 48.227 BCM capacity at 43.691 BCM. In particular, the storage in Uttar Pradesh, which was lower throughout last year, was 29 cent higher than normal.
In the southern region, the storage in the 43 reservoirs was 85 per cent or 46.406 BCM of the 54.634 BCM capacity. Telangana and Karnataka boast of a level above 90 per cent of the capacity, while it was below 70 per cent in Kerala and Andhra.
The current reservoir level, higher than the last 10 year’s average, augurs well for the oncoming rabi season, particularly in the southern, central and western regions.